1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an advertising method using an automatic blood-pressure measuring apparatus including an inflatable cuff, and an automatic blood-pressure measuring apparatus having the function of displaying an advertisement during a blood-pressure measuring operation.
2. Related Art Statement
An automatic blood-pressure (BP) measuring apparatus including an inflatable cuff automatically carries out a BP measuring operation by continuously obtaining a physical single from a living subject while a pressing pressure of the cuff wound around a body portion (e.g., upper arm) of the subject is gradually lowered, and determining a BP value or values of the subject based on the obtained signal. The time needed to complete the BP measuring operation, i.e., the time duration in which the cuff presses the body portion of the subject ranges from about 30 seconds to about 1 minute.
As described above, the automatic BP measuring apparatus including the cuff needs 30 seconds to 1 minute to carry out the BP measuring operation. During the BP measuring operation, the subject is bound to the cuff and accordingly cannot do anything.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide the art of effectively utilizing the time in which the BP measuring operation is carried out.
The above object has been achieved by the present invention. According to a first feature of the present invention, there is provided an advertising method, comprising the step of displaying, during a blood-pressure measuring operation of an automatic blood-pressure measuring apparatus including an inflatable cuff and a display device, an advertisement on the display device.
According to the present advertising method, the advertisement is displayed on the display device of the automatic BP measuring apparatus during the BP measuring operation. Since during the BP measuring operation the living subject is bound to the cuff and is likely to see the advertisement displayed on the display device, a high advertising effect is expected and accordingly the time needed to carry out the BP measuring operation is effectively utilized.
According to a second feature of the present invention, there is provided an advertising method, comprising the steps of transmitting, from a host computer which stores an advertisement data base comprising a plurality of advertisements, each one of the advertisements, to at least one of a plurality of automatic blood-pressure measuring apparatuses each of which includes an inflatable cuff and a display device and is connected to the host computer via a communication line, according to a predetermined relationship between the advertisements and the automatic blood-pressure measuring apparatuses, and displaying, during a blood-pressure measuring operation of the one automatic blood-pressure measuring apparatus which has received the each one advertisement, the each one advertisement on the display device of the one automatic blood-pressure measuring apparatus.
According to this advertising method, at the advertisement displaying step, the advertisement is displayed on the display device during the BP measuring operation. Since during the BP measuring operation the living subject is bound to the cuff and is likely to see the advertisement displayed on the display device, a high advertising effect is expected and accordingly the time needed to carry out the BP measuring operation is effectively utilized. In addition, each advertisement is selected, at the advertisement transmitting step, from the plurality of advertisements included in the advertisement data base stored in the host computer, according to the predetermined relationship between the advertisements and the automatic BP measuring apparatuses, and the selected advertisement is transmitted to one or more corresponding automatic BP measuring apparatuses. Thus, each advertisement is displayed by one or more appropriate apparatuses only.
Preferably, the advertising method according to the second feature further comprises the step of transmitting a summary comprising a number of times of displaying of the each one advertisement by the one automatic blood-pressure measuring apparatus, to a terminal of a client who transmitted the each one advertisement to the host computer so that the host computer stores the advertisement data base comprising the each one advertisement.
In this method, the advertising client can know, from the summary transmitted to his or her terminal, how many times his or her advertisement has been displayed by the one automatic BP measuring apparatus.
Preferably, the advertising method according to the second feature further comprises the step of determining the relationship based on an advertising condition which is transmitted, together with the each one advertisement, from the terminal of the client to the host computer.
In this method, the advertising client can more easily cause only one or more appropriate BP measuring apparatuses to display his or her advertisement, as compared with a different method in which the client directly transits his or her advertisement to one or more appropriate BP measuring apparatuses.
According to a third feature of the present invention, there is provided an automatic blood-pressure measuring apparatus, comprising an inflatable cuff which is adapted to be worn on a body portion of a living subject to press the body portion; a display device; at least one advertisement recording medium on which at least one advertisement is recorded; and a display control device which controls the display device to display the advertisement recorded on the advertisement recording medium, during at least a portion of a time period in which a pressing pressure of the cuff applied to the body portion of the subject is changed.
According to this apparatus, the display control device controls the display device to display the advertisement recorded on the advertisement recording medium, during the period in which the pressing pressure of the cuff is changed. Therefore, a high advertising effect is expected and the time needed to carry out the BP measuring operation is effectively utilized.
Preferably, the automatic BP measuring apparatus comprises a plurality of advertisement recording mediums on which a plurality of different advertisements are recorded, respectively, and a first one of the advertisement recording mediums is replaceable with a second one of the advertisement recording mediums.
In this apparatus, the current advertisement displayed on the display device can be easily changed to a different advertisement, by replacing the current advertisement recording medium with another advertisement recording medium on which the different advertisement is recorded.
Preferably, the automatic BP measuring apparatus further comprises a summary recording medium on which a summary comprising a number of times of displaying of the advertisement by the display device is recorded.
In this apparatus, the number of times of displaying of the advertisement can be easily known by reading out the summary recorded on the summary recording medium.